Editing Lilo & Stitch (section)

===Development===
[[File:PreStitch.jpg|thumb|right|A 1985 [[concept art|concept sketch]] of Stitch by the character's creator Chris Sanders]]
In 1985, after graduating from [[California Institute of the Arts]], [[Chris Sanders]] had created the character of Stitch for an unsuccessful children's book pitch.<ref name="BTS">{{cite video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YKrFytA4Zg |title=The Story Room: The Making of 'Lilo & Stitch' |medium=DVD |publisher=Walt Disney Home Entertainment |location=Burbank, CA |date=2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108004546/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YKrFytA4Zg |archive-date=November 8, 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> He said, "I wanted to do a children's book about this little creature that lived in a forest. It was a bit of a monster with no real explanation as to where it came from." But he found it difficult to condense the story and abandoned the project.<ref name="VultureOralInterview" /> In 1987, [[Walt Disney Animation Studios|Walt Disney Feature Animation]] hired him for their newly formed visual development department. His first project was ''[[The Rescuers Down Under]]'' (1990), but he soon transitioned into storyboarding.<ref>{{cite book |last=Canemaker |first=John |year=1999 |title=Paper Dreams: The Art And Artists Of Disney Storyboards |publisher=[[Hachette Books|Hyperion]] |pages=256–257 |isbn=978-0-7868-6307-5}}</ref> After that, Sanders storyboarded sequences for ''[[Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)|Beauty and the Beast]]'' (1991) and ''[[The Lion King]]'' (1994), and was promoted to Head of Story on ''[[Mulan (1998 film)|Mulan]]'' (1998).<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Lyons |first=Mike |url=https://archive.org/details/cinefantastique_1970-2002/Cinefantastique%20Vol%2032%20No%206%20%28Feb%202001%29/page/n38/mode/1up?view=theater |title=Thomas Schumacher: The Walt Disney Features Animation Presidency on Mouse House Supremacy |magazine=[[Cinefantastique]] |page=40 |date=February 2001 |volume=32 |number=6 |access-date=March 22, 2023 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

In 1997, several executives at Disney Feature Animation were invited to a retreat at [[Michael Eisner]]'s farm in Vermont to discuss the future animation slate beyond adapting preexisting legends, folklore or classic novels.<ref>{{cite news |last=Ryan |first=Tim |url=https://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/12/02/features/story4.html |title=Storybook Ending: With the success of "Lilo & Stitch," 2 Disney employees now have their own production company |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |date=December 2, 2002 |access-date=March 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912060642/https://archives.starbulletin.com/2002/12/02/features/story4.html |archive-date=September 12, 2015 |url-status=live |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}}</ref> At the retreat, [[Thomas Schumacher]], then executive vice president of Disney Feature Animation, suggested they produce a film that would be the "''[[Dumbo]]'' for our generation", compared to the large-budget Disney animated features they had already done.<ref name="BTS" /> Schumacher approached Sanders about producing the film, telling him: "Everybody wants this next film to be you."<ref name="VultureOralInterview" />

During a karaoke dinner at the [[Walt Disney World Swan|Walt Disney World Swan Resort]], Schumacher asked Sanders, "Is there anything you would like to develop?" Sanders remembered the children's book project he had initially developed.<ref name="Fumettologica">{{cite news |last=Fiamma |first=Andrea |url=https://fumettologica.it/2022/07/intervista-chris-sanders-lilo-stitch/2/ |title=Intervista a Chris Sanders, il regista di "Lilo & Stitch" |website=[[Fumettologica]] |date=July 19, 2022 |access-date=March 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719105835/https://fumettologica.it/2022/07/intervista-chris-sanders-lilo-stitch/2/ |archive-date=July 19, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref> At his next meeting, Sanders pitched a remote, non-urban location, with Stitch crash-landing into a forest and interacting entirely with woodland animals, being ostracized by them, and living on his own at a farm in rural [[Kansas]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Harada |first=Wayne |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121419355/the-honolulu-advertiser/ |title='Lilo & Stitch' creators fall for Hawai{{okina}}i's 'ohana' |work=[[The Honolulu Advertiser]] |date=May 1, 2002 |access-date=March 22, 2023 |archive-date=March 22, 2023 |pages=F1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121418952/the-honolulu-advertiser/ F3] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322193246/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121419355/the-honolulu-advertiser/ |url-status=live |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> But Schumacher suggested that Stitch should interact with people instead: "The animal world is already alien to us. So, if you wanna get the best contrast between this monster and the place where it lives, I would recommend you set it in a human world."<ref name="Fumettologica" /><ref name="DavisHanaHou">{{Cite journal |url=http://www.hanahou.com/pages/magazine.asp?Action=DrawArticle&ArticleID=389&MagazineID=24 |title=Disney Goes Hawaiian |first=Pat |last=Davis |journal=[[Hana Hou!]] |volume=5 |issue=2 |date=April–May 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309045701/https://hanahou.com/5.2/disney-goes-hawaiian |archive-date=March 9, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/newsletter/dec2002/index.html |title=DVD & Video Newsletter: 'Lilo & Stitch' Now on DVD and Video |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021211082937/http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/newsletter/dec2002/index.html |date=December 2002 |archive-date=December 11, 2002 |access-date=March 22, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> Sanders would eventually, albeit inadvertently, revisit his idea of a creature bonding with animals in a forest years later with [[DreamWorks Animation]]'s ''[[The Wild Robot]]'' (2024).<ref name="Ebiri">{{Cite web |last= Ebiri |first=Bilge |date=September 26, 2024 |title='When CG Came Along, We Couldn't Escape' How The Wild Robot's director, Chris Sanders, found a sweet spot between hand-drawn and CG animation. |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/chris-sanders-on-the-wild-robot-and-live-action-lilo-and-stitch.html |access-date=September 28, 2024 |website=[[Vulture (website)|Vulture]] |language=en-US}}</ref>

For three straight days in his [[Palm Springs, Florida]] hotel room, Sanders created a 29-page pitch book drawing conceptual sketches and outlining the film's general story.<ref name="Fumettologica" /> He initially revised it by adding a boy character.<ref>{{cite news |author=Spence D. |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/06/19/a-look-inside-the-creation-of-lilo-and-stitch |title=A Look Inside the Creation of Lilo and Stitch |website=[[IGN]] |date=June 19, 2002 |access-date=March 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413215011/https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/06/19/a-look-inside-the-creation-of-lilo-and-stitch |archive-date=April 13, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> But as the character of Stitch evolved, Sanders decided he needed to be contrasted with a female character: "I think Stitch represented a male character so the balance would be to put him with a little girl. We wanted someone who was going to be in conflict with Stitch, and we realized a little boy might be a comrade."<ref>{{cite news |last=Osmond |author-link=Andrew Osmond (journalist) |first=Andrew |url=https://www.awn.com/animationworld/lilo-stitch-revisited-part-i |title=Lilo & Stitch Revisited: Part I |website=[[Animation World Network]] |date=December 31, 2002 |access-date=March 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224084025/https://www.awn.com/animationworld/lilo-stitch-revisited-part-i |archive-date=February 24, 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> Sanders then glanced at a map of Hawaii on his wall, and recalling he had recently vacationed there, he relocated the story there.<ref name="BTS" /> Not well versed in Hawaiian culture, Sanders turned to a vacation roadmap and found the names "Lilo Lane" and "Nani" there.<ref name="VultureOralInterview" /> After finishing the booklet, he shipped it to Burbank, and Schumacher approved the pitch with one condition: "it has to look like you drew it."<ref name="Fumettologica" />